veryperceptive:

His 18th Birthday. A pretty big deal. And GK was cheerfully wrapping presents, taking a cue from Hobbit culture like a rich, pampered, and geeky boy logically might as well do.

He'd already made sure presents would be waiting for his family when they got back from Switzerland. In the meantime, he had something for Zoe, her Mom, the gang at work, the Outsiders -- to be delivered in costume -- and, last but not least, Eli.

Once the ones for work were dropped off, he headed for the triangle with two packages. On the way, he checked the mail.

There was a card. He blinked in shock to see that the postmark was from England, the return address from the Holdaways' firm. Did they actually give a damn all of a sudden?
And then he read it, and he was barely past the 'Dear Gilbert, Congratulations on your 18th birthday' when he statrted grinding his teeth.

It should have taken more effort to read between the lines. They should have put more effort into looking like, after all this time, they were into something more than getting Grandma's account back. He guessed to people like that, eighteen years and nine months was just a little blip in in a nearly three-century business deal.

He folded the card and shoved it in his pocket as he headed to Zoe's. Very quickly, since he wasn't bringing his stick.

rightontarget:

J'anna was one of Lian's best friends. So naturally, her birthday was not going to go unnoticed. And Lian knew just what to get her. Cookware and chocos. She'd gotten her a new bread machine. And while Lian couldn't cook or bake to save her soul, the bakery down the street from Outsiders headquarters could...and Lian had them make an entire cake out of Oreos. Well... technically, she had to get two cakes, because she knew that J'anna would eat the oreo cake all by herself. Lian got a red velvet for everyone else, as she knew that the oreo cake would be gone in a matter of minutes.

Lian placed the cake and the wrapped bread machine on the kitchen counter in Outsiders HQ. She'd told the rest of the team about J'anna's birthday.